Taylor Swift Discusses Writing For “Hunger Games,” Debuts “Eyes Open”

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Last week, multiple tracks written for the Hunger Games including Taylor Swift‘s “Eyes Open” were leaked. In an interview with Yahoo, Swift spoke of her writing process for the film.

“‘Eyes Open’ and ‘Safe & Sound’ are two songs that I wanted to represent different relationships in the story. To me, ‘Safe & Sound’ represents the empathy and compassion Katniss feels for Rue, Peeta, and Prim in different parts of the book. ‘Eyes Open’ is more of a depiction of Katniss’s relationship with the Capitol. She knows she can’t trust anyone in the government, and that’s why I wanted the song to feel more frantic—like the sound of being hunted or chased,” she said.

Swift further explained that she likes to write in character.

“I write so personally and so autobiographically most of the time, so it was actually refreshing to put on someone else’s emotions and draw from them, instead of from my own,” she said. “Katniss’s world, motivations, and priorities are different than mine. I liked focusing on basic human emotions like compassion and fear, because that’s all you have when you’re simply trying to survive.”

In Rolling Stone, Swift explained her collaboration with the Civil Wars. The soundtrack’s first single “Safe & Sound” came together last fall during a two-hour writing session at T Bone Burnett’s home studio.

“The Civil Wars had a show that night in L.A.,” Swift said. “So they raced right over to T Bone’s house. There’s so many things he could’ve done production-wise to make that song bigger sonically than it is, but I think that would have possibly been a mistake. For him to have left the song as a lullaby is brilliant.”

On Saturday, Swift debuted “Eyes Open” live while on tour in New Zealand.

“I’m really excited about it. You don’t think I’d get in trouble if I played it now?” she asked to screaming fans. “Probably not, right? I don’t know. What do you think?”

With just one day before the Hunger Games soundtrack is available to the public, another track has leaked. Miranda Lambert‘s group the Pistol Annies, which is comprised of Ashley Monroe, Angaleena Presley and Lambert, released their latest contribution to the film.